Nottingham Forest vs Manchester United Preview

Manchester United will travel to the City Ground this Wednesday to play Nottingham Forest in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final.

The hosts will look to edge closer to securing their fifth EFL trophy when they face United at the City ground. However, they have not won any tournament involving top-flight clubs since the Brian Clough-led golden era in which they claimed consecutive EFL Cups twice (1977/78, 78/79, 88/89 and 89/90).

Yet, under current boss Steve Cooper they can be proud of their form heading into this tie. After a poor start since their promotion to the top flight, they have enjoyed a decent run of form in recent games.  They come into this tie on the back of a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth that kept the relegation zone at bay for now.

They have lost just three of their last 13 games in all competitions and have not tasted defeat at the City ground since early October. However, they haven’t beaten Manchester United since December 1994 (D1, L7) and recently lost 3-0 to the Red Devils when both sides met in December.

However, Manchester United come into this tie looking to bounce back from a disappointing loss to Arsenal in the Premier League. The visitors had been billed to join the title race after recording nine wins in ten games (D1). Yet they fell at the second hurdle falling to a defeat at the Emirates Stadium despite taking the lead.

While their title quest might be considered far from over, Erik ten Hag’s side are still enjoying a great season. They are still alive in three knockout events and will see this trophy as a perfect opportunity to end their trophy drought considering that none of the last five winners of the competition are still in the tournament.

But since securing their last EFL Cup crown in 2016/17, the Old Trafford side have notably been eliminated at the semi-final stage twice in five failures to reach the final albeit both times against crosstown archrivals Manchester City.

Yet, having not lost to Forest since December 1994, they will fancy their chances here.